The 2016 election will be held under a reformed Senate electoral system that puts votes and power back into the hands of the Australian people. These reforms, championed by the Greens for more than a decade, are an important step towards a more transparent democracy.

Renewing our democracy is vital to ensure that we are all provided the opportunity to shape the decisions affecting our future and that our representatives are accountable to us, while digital technology opens up new opportunities for engaging with the democratic process.

We are committed to ensuring that those marginalised and with little power have their voice heard and can meaningfully participate in the political process.

Those with money and wealth shouldn’t be able to buy political influence on issues that matter most, like global warming. The laws on political donations need to be cleaned up, just like the old polluting industries that exploit them.

The Greens’ donations reform Bills would clean up the corrupting influence of political donations through a combination of greater transparency measures and bans on donations from industries that have an unsavoury track record in influencing decision makers. They would ban political donations from mining, development, tobacco, alcohol and gambling industries.

We are also committed to the establishment of a national anti-corruption body. We know that corruption doesn’t stop at state borders, yet right now the Federal government is the only jurisdiction without a corruption watchdog to prevent corruption and investigate allegations of misconduct.